jmicha

^You must also remember Shoot The Rapids takes up a good portion of Millennium Island now. The top part of the island is taken up by it and the current rumor is the rest will Dinosaurs Alive (I believe). So nothing is going to be going there anytime soon coaster-wise.

^As far as I know, nothing has ever been actually confirmed. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that just a rumor that seems to have lasted a little too long? It's very possible that nobody wants a dive machine in the U.S. and that's why we haven't seen any other than at Busch Gardens. They aren't exactly a popular style of ride to build and only recently have they become more common thanks to a lot of Chinese parks adding them.

^^One that went southeast along the beach to the right of the parking lot would be absolutely amazing. Have the station somewhere by Disaster Transport and have the lift over the tubes of Disaster Transport along the beach, turnaround, and have a series of crazy hills all the way down the parking lot. That's my dream. Well, almost. My real dream is to remove Disaster Transport and use that as the station area and have a tight twister ending after the hills along the beach, but that's more than likely never going to happen. As for a B&M wingrider, something flying overtop of other rides/areas could be really cool and interactive. I don't know where this would be, but no matter where it would be awesome. Maybe themed to the flying machine that guy on Paddlewheel Excursions invented and hovering over Fronteirtrail.

^Yes. You do a drop, level out, do a drop, level out, and do one more drop and level out at the bottom erupting from the tunnel and flying into the bat s#*t crazy finale.

^The two times I've been this season, Mean Streak has been running better than it has in a while. The ride's layout is still about as boring as you can get, but the drop after the turnaround above the lift actually offered a pop of airtime towards the back of the train. The ride needs serious help, but it's running the best it has in a long time.

^It really depends on how large the coaster is. A complex, tall ride like Dragster requires a lot more prep work than a traditional, shorter coaster. I also don't think 2012 will bring a coaster, but it is possible that it could be next year's addition if there is a major ride being built at all. As for the comments about Cedar Point falling behind in the amusement industry I believe it is quite the opposite. It seems to be beefing up its non-coaster lineup and creating a family destination more than it has in decades. The park seems to be operating better than it has been in years from what I've seen in my two visits so far this season and overall it just feels like a different crowd is visiting with a lot of people staying at Breakers and families coming in from the marina. I'm enjoying the way the park has been improving. As much as I love coasters, thrill rides are just as fun when done correctly and having major thrill rides being built between higher quality coasters is what I feel makes for the best park experience.

I think people are overreacting. It doesn't seem to be any more temperamental in regards to wind than, say, Raptor, Top Thrill Dragster, Sky Ride, Space Spiral, etc. which I believe are the rides that close in the slowest winds. It sounds like it's mostly just a balance thing meaning if the ride isn't full the people riding will just be assigned evenly spaced seats. I feel the park is capable of figuring this 'issue' out.

I was at Cedar Point on Saturday and not once during any of the many times I watched the ride (I waited 45 minutes for members of my group to ride) did anything even close to this video occur. The swings do move around more once slowing down than at any other point, but it wasn't as much as during this video. It is very possible it was just operating during higher winds than it was designed. But saying that the winds on the beach are going to be greater 300 feet up than if you were to put it somewhere else in the park is a bit ridiculous. There's nothing to block the wind at that height like at ground level so no matter where you are in the park the winds are going to be high at that height. As for the ride itself, it's gorgeous, especially at night. The lights are fantastic. Incredibly bright and the patterns are cool. The operations seemed a little slow but the ride holds a ton of people so the line moved quickly for how long it was. I was unable to get to the park last year so this is the first time I was able to see Shoot the Rapids in person. The ride looked great and really added to that part of the park. Operations were also the best I have seen in a while considering how crowded the park was. Millennium only stacked trains for 5-10 seconds before they continued moving which made a line that could have been 2 hours in the past only 1.5 hours or less. It was like this on all rides as well. The crews were hustling and seemed like they were enjoying themselves and not once did I see anything broken down or closed which was nice. I also didn't see Dragster roll back at any point as well. So overall it was a crowded day but great operations allowed for it to still be enjoyable.

^^The light blue one? He has an office in Plantation Plaza off 278 in Bluffton (the same plaza the architecture firm I worked for is located) as well as one along either Henry or Andrew Street on the western side of Savannah. He's (obviously) a plastic surgeon and his second office focuses on dental. He would park it in the plaza several times a week and I would always stop and look. It's just so gorgeous. And I happened to leave right behind him several times and since I used Andrew Street to get to my house in Savannah I got to listen to its engine noise the entire ride home. Quite the good times.

^That's not entirely true. They weren't as long but they were in all the same spots they are today except down the hill to the helix. As you can see from this video which was shot before the ride ever opened there is a small set of trims on the drop. I have no idea when they were extended to the length they were before being modified to be magnetic, but the ride was definitely riddled with trims from the beginning.

^That's a very good point. I'm thinking we'll see a complete rebuild of the track, and like you said, possible reprofiling in some places (hopefully to make some of the more boring sections do something more than meander). Hopefully it won't just be a small retracking that just results in more of the same leading to the ride's demise. There is a lot of potential in this ride that would be a shame to see go to waste. But this potential requires some imagination and some effort, not a simple fix. Hopefully Cedar Fair realizes this and is willing to try rather than just give up despite the ride's past history.

^It's fine, they could just use their other awesome name they came up with for inverted/suspended coasters. AFTERBURN!!11!1!!

Although I have no idea what the rumors are saying, a full sized inverted coaster is definitely something missing from their lineup. The rest of the park's lineup is pretty good, but some higher quality steel coasters would be a very welcomed addition in my book.

^Obviously the parks' Facebook is saying everything is open, but can anyone confirm this from actually visiting the park? There's a possibility I will be going to this park at some point this coming weekend and would love to be able to get everything in if I do end up being able to go.

I visited Kings Island for the first time this season yesterday and have a few things to report. First is that Windseeker looks amazing. It's very noticeable and everyone in the park was talking about it as it kept going up and down the tower all day (no spinning however). Also the night lighting on the tower looks great. It's very noticeable from everywhere in the park. I can't wait to see it with all the lights on the actual seats. It should look phenomenal. I got two new credits in yesterday. Flying Ace Aerial Chase and Woodstock Express. Woodstock Express was surprisingly fun for such a little coaster. A great little ride. Aerial Chase confused me. How such a small, slow ride rattled around that much and created such a mess of its trackwork is beyond me. Oh well, it's a credit. I have discovered that the front seat of Diamondback is my favorite spot on the ride. The airtime seemed quite a bit better up front and employing my new riding style made it that much better. We refer to it as ragdolling. It's exactly as it sounds. Just sit there limp and let the g-forces do their thing. It's obvious exactly how much airtime there really is when both your arms and legs suddenly launch towards the sky and stay there for several seconds. The second hill on Diamondback is still amazing to me. The amount of sustained airtime is awesome. An interesting experience happened at the end of the day which we made sure to let guest services know about. We were in line for Diamondback and asked the station manager if we could have the front seat. He said "of course" and directed us there. Once we were in the station they made an announcement that everyone should cram into the station wherever they wanted to. A bunch of people came into the front line behind us. Then a female ride op decided she didn't like this despite the fact that it was exactly what they told us to do, so she came up to the people in line and said "ummm, you need to GET out of this line, NOW!!!" People didn't really respond to this due to the fact that most people really don't like listening to someone who is being rude for no reason. She then came back over as people started to realize why we were being told to move and she then proclaimed, "I said MOVE, go to other lines, NOW!!!" People started talking back to her as she rolled her eyes, put in some ear plugs, then went back to her station. Completely unprofessional way of asking people to evenly disperse so that they can get the last few trains filled for the night. Then once we got on the train in a different row the guy on the microphone asked them to unlock some random row so somebody could get on the train to which the person in the booth said something (I don't recall what it was) to which the guy with the microphone says, over the intercom system in the station, "ughhh, f**k" A bunch of people stopped for a second then started asking each other if that's what he had just said. Completely unprofessional. I'm not one to be offended easily, and I wasn't, but things like this make a park look bad. Ride ops represent the park and Cedar Fair when working and this just saddens me. My friend who used to work at the park knew the lady working guest relations and told her about this to which she instantly called up the Diamondback supervisor. I really want Cedar Fair to do well as both my home parks are Cedar Fair parks, but stuff like this just gives me a sour taste in my mouth. We all let some things slip when we don't mean to, but that's pretty bad. Hopefully it'll just encourage others to act more professionally when working at the park. Overall the day was good. Extremely hot though. We spent a few hours in the middle of the day at Boomerang Bay which was pretty crowded. It was nice to get out of the heat for a little bit though. Operations on most rides were really good as well. Diamondback was eating through people as was Beast. The only ride with a long line was Firehawk which is to be expected. We skipped it due to the heat and went on to Flight of Fear for some air conditioned waiting instead. Overall the park was looking really clean and the new pavers by Windseeker look really good. It's nice to see pavers instead of seas of concrete. It helps up the quality of the park. Hopefully Cedar Fair continues this trend whenever they redo areas of their parks. It looks so much better this way.

I have gone on either 4 or 5 Memorial Days and only once was it anything other than dead. That day was also the only one where the weather was really nice. I'd assume there's a connection between those and say that since the weather is supposed to be pretty awesome tomorrow that many people are going to go to the park. It's a risk that could pay off if you are willing to take it, but in my experience I'd say that tomorrow will probably have a decent amount of people at the park.

It really depends on where the weight is. If it is stomach/thigh fat it is probably going to be difficult/impossible for him to ride Millennium and Dragster. I am 6' tall and before losing about 75 pounds, I was 235 pounds. I was just barely able to get the belt closed and the restraint into a position that was acceptable. Wicked Twister, maXair, and possibly Maverick may be difficult as well. The other coasters shouldn't be a problem except for Cedar Creak Mine Ride due to its single position lapbar. Not exactly a huge loss there though honestly. Luckily there are test seats outside pretty much all the major rides, so he will be able to definitely check to see if he'll fit and save himself any sort of embarrassment of being turned away in the stations.

About a month or so ago, I was talking to my friend whom attends Holiwood Nights every year. We began talking about Holidayworld and I mentioned I had yet to make my way there and how I longed to visit after all the fantastic things I had heard about the park. We then decided that a trip was definitely in order and the two of us as well as another one of our friends picked a date and decided to go yesterday, May 22. Leading up to Sunday the weather reports weren't looking all that promising. Predictions went from looking pretty clear to looking like there was going to be thunderstorms every hour or so the entire day. Thankfully before leaving that morning, the reports had changed to say storms would most likely happen at around 10 am as well as 6 pm. This was much better than what had been predicted before so it was already turning out to be a good day. We left that morning at around 7:45 (eastern time) from Cincinnati and arrived at the park at around 10 (central time). We got our tickets and headed in. No photos and lots of text lies ahead, just as warning to those not fans of written trip reports. Upon walking into the entrance I saw who I believe to be Pat Koch greeting guests. It was clear there is a reason people speak so highly of the friendliness at this park. This showed throughout the entire day. Once in the park, the family aspect was apparent with many families walking around and riding the rides. A different group than I'm used to with Cedar Point and Kings Island. The first ride we rode was Raven in the back. The ride was fantastic. Quality wood coasters aren't something I've really experienced much of so it was nice to ride a great wooden coaster that has obviously had loving care put into its maintenance. The ride was incredibly smooth, yet aggressive in a fun way. The first drop offered a nice pop of air and the lake turn offered much more lateral force than I had been anticipating. The large drop into the woods also offered a nice moment of airtime in the back. The rest of the high speed run through the forest was fantastic offering a nice variety of forces and felt so much faster than it actually is. The setting for this coaster is great. I also love how it sits next to the entrance to the park. A very scenic ride. After riding Raven we headed over to Legend. I've heard mixed things over the years about the ride and wasn't sure what to expect other than a lot of laterals. And laterals is what I received. The first sweeping drop into the tunnel was a lot of fun and starting with the sweeping right hand drop around Zinga the lateral G's kept coming. The two hills after that sweeping drop also offered two nice moments of airtime. The second of those hills offers an odd (possibly not intentional, I'm not really sure) sudden moment of forceful airtime in the back right as you enter the tunnel. The track's angle quickly changes for only a split second and the train kind of falls out beneath you. It seemed like it was just a consequence of the trackwork, but I liked it The helix was probably the most intense helix I've ever experienced. I feel like I got an upper body workout trying to keep myself from flailing about sideways the entire time. It was fantastic. I also really like the quick right hand turn that then leads into the small drop that goes underneath the hill of Frightful Falls. Great lateral forces. Overall I liked Legend a little more than I liked Raven. The extra length was great and I really liked the focus on lateral G's. That's not something that I really see at the parks I frequent. We then worked our way over to Voyage. We decided to ride in the back seat for the first ride and that was a great choice. After riding all day in various places, I like the back the most. The first drop offers quite a large amount of sustained airtime as do the rest of the hills on the "out" run. The tunnels and the one small, low to the ground hill/turn that flies between tunnels were great moments on this part of the ride. Going over the hill before the turnaround offered a nice view of the awesomeness that was about to be had. The entire turnaround was just one incredible element after another. The amount of random pops of airtime and crazy laterals as well as the great feeling of the 90 degree turns was a perfect combination. The triple down in the tunnel after the MCBR didn't offer quite as much air as I had expected, but the feeling of shooting out of the bottom of the tunnel and into the next few hills was fantastic. The next few hills were great for airtime and lateral air. The third 90 degree turn was as good as the others. From that point to the brake run is just crazy. The turn that jumps over the lift approach throws you from side to side and the other turn/hill following that tunnel offers a great, quick transition. The last tunnel and final turn keep up the crazy pacing of this ride and finish up what is by far my favorite wooden coaster. The ride was quite smooth and aggressive in all the right ways. I can see how riding over and over again could be difficult though for some people as I realized after exiting how exhausted I suddenly felt from the ride. But this was a good thing. I love how aggressive the ride is. It has a great combination of forces, elements, and extreme length and pacing. If the timberliners improve this ride, I will be sure to make my way out to experience its epicness over and over again. Such an amazing ride. We made our way over to Pilgrim's Plunge which seems quite lonely all the way out on the edge of the park. I am not a huge fan of heights on anything other than roller coasters and knew this ride would get to me. The moment we started climbing the tower, this fear was realized. My heart was racing and my grip tightened dramatically on my lap bar. This lessened at the top, but I was still quite uncomfortable. The drop was decent, nothing too extreme, but it offered a nice buildup to the final splashdown. The splash itself was not that large, but I did not mind as I wasn't looking to get soaked. The ride is pretty fun. It need friends or landscaping though. It just feels so alone out on the edge of the park. At this point it was around 11:30 or so (the park was pretty much empty due to the threat of thunderstorms) and we decided that it was time to go to the water park. All of our swimsuits and such were back in the car so we made our way back towards the front of the park, riding Legend twice and Raven twice along the way. Both times we just stayed in the train as the stations were generally only every half full when we returned and they were still running two trains on all the coasters at that time. We got our stuff from the car and headed to Splashin' Safari. We started off with Wildebeest as my friend is quite a fan of the ride. I have only heard awesome things about the ride so I was expecting a great ride. Every single one of my expectations was met and exceeded. From the moment we went down the first drop the ride never let up. The feeling of shooting upwards on a water ride was such an odd, but amazing feeling. And the amount of crazy airtime on the tops of all the hills was not something I could have ever expected. My butt left the seat so many times it amazed me I was even still in the raft by the end of the ride. I never would have thought a water ride would offer this type of airtime. The drop into the tunnel towards the end of the ride in the back offered the best moment of airtime in that seat. We finished the ride and quickly got back in line (which was about ten people long ). This time I rode in the front. The amount of airtime in the front was even greater than in the back. There were a few moments that I was caught so off guard by the airtime at the tops of the hills that I actually yelled out in surprise. I cannot even describe how much fun this ride is. I have a new bar for water park rides now. It was that amazing. We rode it two more times before heading on. We went over to the racing slides (I forget their name) and I lost epically to my friend whom has some sort of magical form for this ride. I pushed off as hard as I could and the moment I did all I see is him flying by at about twice my speed. I am unsure of how he did this. The only explanation is physics hax. That's it. After that we rode Zinga which, like all funnels, was awesome. We seemed to get higher and spend more time in the funnel than the one at Geauga Lake. A good ride as always. We then went on Zoombabwe, the ride with the greatest name ever The ride itself was decent, nothing special. The very end, however, offered a complete personality change. The whole ride offered nice sweeping turns that were taken gracefully. During the last turn and drop into the pool, however, the ride seemed to gain an impossible amount of speed. When we hit the end pool, we were thrown into an awkward pile resulting in complete loss of direction. A fantastic ending to a pretty typical waterslide. From there we rode Bukali which was fun. It was my first toilet bowl slide. We got three revolutions. A short but sweet ride. After this we decided to reride all the slides, including multiple rerides on Wildebeest. Seriously, Wildebeest is the best thing to ever happen to water parks. Every park should have one. Overall Splashin' Safari was a great break from the heat and I am happy it is included in the admission. At this time it was about 2:30 and we decided we were hungry. We changed and made our way over to Plymouth Rock Cafe. My meal was pretty good (much better than the food at Cedar Fair and Six Flags parks) and at only $8.99 I was satisfied. Also, I would like to take this time to say how incredibly awesome free soft drinks are. Never once was I thirsty which is rare at an amusement park. The amount of soda I drank throughout the day would have covered the cost of admission at Cedar Point or Kings Island. This detail is one of many that made the trip so much fun and satisfying. We brought our stuff back to the car and came back in and continued riding rides. We started with Liberty Launch. I'm not a fan of drop rides due to my dislike of heights, but the small stature of this ride was not intimidating enough to get to me. I'm glad I rode as it offered a pretty intense ride for such a short drop tower. Two moments of great airtime at the top and some nice floater air thereafter. The ride packs a pretty good punch for its size. We rode The Revolution after this. I haven't ridden a roundup since my days of frequenting Whalom Lake Park so it was a nice nostalgic ride. A nostalgic ride that made me crazy dizzy I stumbled out of the ride like a drunk. It was classic amusement park fun. We rode Frightful Falls after this. The ride is quirky with its quite narrow trough, cinder block tunnel, and random cemetery/alligator/lizard theme. The drop was pure log flume fun. We rode three times in a row as nobody was in the station. Nothing like rerides to make your day better. After this we started our glorious set of rerides on the three coasters. I have no idea how many times we rode each, but all I know is that by the end of the day I was sore. In the best way possible. I only counted how many times we rode Legend in a row. Ten times and several thigh bruises later, I was satisfied. We rode Raven at least five times in a row as well as after the Legend run and then made our way over to The Voyage for the end of the night. We waited for the front which took about 15 minutes (only one train was running at this time) but it was worth it. The front offers a great view and heightens the immense sense of speed during the ride. People were waiting for the front when we got back to the station so we moved to the second to last row. This is where we stayed for either four or five more rides in a row before the park closed. I understand why people have trouble reriding this coaster, but if it means less people waiting then I'm happy. I could have enjoyed several times that many rides. As general notes about the park, the care the owners and employees have for the quality of experience is obvious. Everything was kept to the highest standard. Not once did I see a piece of trash, overflowing garbage can, grumpy ride op, lazy employee texting, etc. On the way out from Voyage, no less than five employees smiled, told us to have a great night and a safe drive home, and went on their way cleaning the park up. What the park may lack in terms of quantity in comparison to larger parks it more than makes up for in immense quality. All the rides were clean, well kept, brightly painted, running all day, etc. The only moment of a ride not running I noticed was Legend stopped at the top of the lift for about five minutes. Other than that I noticed no closures or stops anywhere. The park is exceptional. There is no other way to describe it. All in all I only spent $55 dollars yesterday for tickets (discounted with AAA), two meals, and gas. I would have gladly paid twice that for yesterday's experience. Thank you so much Holidayworld for running such an amazing park. Large chain parks should look at your park as a reference for how to do EVERYTHING properly. Thank you and I hope to be back soon.

I slept through the beginning of the rapture...maybe it's happening now and things are only going to get worse from here on out. Wait, that can't be right, I'm going to Holidayworld for the first time tomorrow.

Lol. Got to get that upper body workout in while on the job. Seriously though, that has to be one of the most (humorously) horrible policies I've seen.

Your trip reports have been great to read. I am still kicking myself for not getting to Carowinds when I was down south for two quarters. SFOG was fantastic though. Definitely a great park that was easily doable in one day with 4.5 hour drives on either end I have a friend from Virginia and may have to visit him at some point this summer...I want to ride I305 quite badly. Plus being able to ride Dominator in its new home would be fantastic. I always quite liked that coaster. It's not as scenic as it was at Geauga Lake, but I'm glad it found a good home at Kings Dominion. Anyway, thank you for posting these photos and trip reports, they have been great to read.

Although the building will/would more than likely outlast humans in the long run, if it were to need to be demolished for whatever reason, it wouldn't be imploded due to the reasons you stated. It would have to be taken apart, Deutsche Bank style next to the World Trade Center. It would be highly impractical, but so would designing a mile tall tower needing to be demolished in 100 years.

And the Burj Khalifa isn't listed as its actual height of 828 meters. And the Kingdom Tower is drawn at 1000 meters tall rather than the 1609 that design actually is. I'm guessing that is an old graphic from way back when the very first image of the tower's current concept surfaced. Burj Khalifa wasn't finished yet so nobody knew how tall it was actually going to be, the Chicago Spire was still trucking along successfully and the Nakheel Tower showed very little signs of stopping its own progression.

As an architect myself and an avid skyscraper fan, I feel that this is the most likely of all the monstrous Middle Eastern proposals to be built. The money isn't coming from investors or anything like that but rather the royal family. What that means is that whatever they want, they get. Approval is already in place for the skyscraper and essentially all that's waiting to happen is for the design to be finished. Although insanely expensive at around $30,000,000,000 I believe this building will at the very least get started. Whether or not it actually ever is finished, that remains to be seen. But the only thing stopping it from progressing at this moment in time is the fact that the design work isn't finished yet. Everything else is in place. As for needing to take it down in 100 years, skyscrapers are designed to stand for a heck of a lot longer than that. The first modern skyscrapers are already that old and they were built by hand out of brick. Adrian Smith (the architect) is well aware of how to properly design a massive skyscraper. He is the architect of Burj Khalifa and this is essentially just the next logical step in the skyscraper wars of Asia and the Middle East. Although a completely unnecessary building that is nearly three times the square footage of any other building ever built, I will watch in amazement when it finally starts after years and years of proposals and design iterations. I mean, if they need to compensate for something they are lacking, I might as well get some enjoyment out of it and support it if only purely from a technological/engineering perspective. The design, architecturally speaking, is seriously lacking, but it will still be amazing once it is complete.

^This is all true. The Maverick and Shoot the Rapids situations were unfortunate but I know when I went on physics day of 2007 my classmates were less than pleased Maverick wasn't open yet. I tried to tell them how quickly they were handling a situation that could have been a lot worse than it actually turned out to be, but to them the fact that it wasn't ready was enough to "ruin" (overdramatic, I know, but many said it) their trip to the Point. I just hope whatever setbacks they are having with the Windseekers will be figured out as quickly as possible so that those brave enough to ride can. This does not include myself